candy and costumes

we had a pretty good halloween around here,
but even with trying to simplify (we only went to one "treat event") the candy meter here is off the charts!

here's how they looked last night -
the robot (great costume - made by dad!) and the pink bunny.

thanks to all of our family that sent wonderful treats in the mail to the kids as well.
it was a fun holiday!
well, at least for kids...

wes the dog

jake and i have always talked about having a dog (or even two),
but the timing never seemed to work.
just renting, no yard, not enough time for training, new baby, etc.
the list could go on forever.
but earlier this fall we happened to find out about a litter of pups that would be born in september,
and we started thinking...
maybe we should get one.
well to make this long story short -
meet our new puppy wes.

we love him!!!

and in so many ways, we already know how great the timing was.
ben's only concern at bedtime was "where's wes?" -
pretty sure they bonded instantly.
and little julia even seems delighted to watch wes run around and to "gently" pat him.
i'm sure there will be many more posts to come involving a certain dog.

enjoyment

these pictures are from last weekend.
definitely not today - it was cold today!

one of my favorite things about grabbing the camera and clicking away,
is capturing moments like this.

being a kid is great!
and i hope our two get every possible ounce of enjoyment out of their childhood days.

ten months

this is pretty much old - considering julia is eleven months now.
but i did take this picture fairly close to her actual ten month date,
so i'm still counting it.  :)

so much for lovely quilts and cute headbands -
they have been replaced by our everyday carpet and wild hair.
this is us...

a little more "dressed-up"...

four years

last month we celebrated a 4th birthday.
it was almost a month ago already - hard to believe.
but it's also hard to believe he is four.
we had a wonderful day on his birthday - just the four of us.

and we also had a great time celebrating the following weekend with friends and family.

we love you ben!

it's crazy

i don't know any other way to describe things lately.
but we are here.

lots on the list of blog posts to get to over the weekend.
look forward to sharing more with you soon!
xoxo